Those hussars with the weird wings that "Intervened" right after the death of Ivan the Terrible weren't Lithuanians, and that image has burned itself pretty deeply into the Russian psyche from a few of their historic movies that I have seen.
First, this was no intervention at all just a conquistador-style adventurous expedition into the Aztec or Inca empires to install a "true" heir to the throne.
Only later it turned into killing off the rival and intervening from the inside and you know what, I don't mind, I wish it had only worked out, there would never have been a monster called Russia.
I like to remind myself that Russian Independence Day marks the day we were thrown out of the Kremlin, but only after they had literally starved to death the defending crew and the repulsion had no troops to change that (too bad, at least Russia would have remained what it was throughout its history, a shithole in Asia).
That is why to this day Russians are afraid of us, because we always remind them who inflicted the biggest real wounds on them. Who held them all in hand easily for two centuries.
IMHO Russia has more of a cultural and historic claim to it than you latinized Papists do.
No, they don't. They make claims but the fact is that Moscow was a meaningless chicken coop not part of Ruthenia proper. Ruthenia proper is Kiev and Novgorod, and you know what the best part of that is? Both these cities did not want to be under Moscow's boot! In fact, the elites had no such problem being with us, even Novgorod, which wanted to join us, was actually abandoned by us out of stupidity. Later on, without any resistance in XVIth century, it surrendered to us and wanted to join us, for which Ivan IV the Coward (that's what we called him at home) burned down the city. What's even better, we didn't recognize the Tsar's imperial title for centuries, only since the mid-18th century this changed but only in diplomacy, for the Poles he was still an ordinary prince of Moscow pretending to be an emperor in his wooden henhouse.
You know we didn't use any real compulsion to polonize and in just a century
yet a large part of the elites from Ruthenia, Lithuania succumbed to it? And while Moscow had to kill some of them and put the rest in chains to do it.
Simple, because we offered advancement and made them equal with us, and they became Poles by themselves.
So the only one who has a problem is you. For the average Ruthenian of the nobility this was not a problem, what's even better is that we created, as it later turned out unnecessarily, the Greek Catholic Church which looks like Ordo but has Roman dogmas. Thanks to this Ukrainian national consciousness arose. (Although it could always cause that if the PLC didn't fall it would cause integration of Ruthenians into general Polish identity. *Note, here I am talking about Poles in the sense of an American, a real Pole then was a Koroniarz/Crowman).
The Muscovites did not like it very much and wanted to destroy it.
What did the Pope do when Constantine XI Palaiologos asked for help, eh?
No way, because it was not in the political interest, another thing was that it could not be changed. A century earlier? Maybe. But the Byzantine Empire was heading for its own downfall and only a miracle could save it. But in the 15th century? Byzantium was already dead and no amount of help from the Pope could change that.
Stop obsessing over Russia, you are missing the forest for one single tree that you can't really do much about.
I have no obcession, I take a pragmatic approach to Russia, and Russia as a country is not our ally or partner just a rival for power over Eastern Europe.
Of course it would be good if our elites would stop being so russophobic but it doesn't change the fact that it is our rival and we should stop being afraid of it and only try to get along with it and then destroy it like we did for the last 500 years.
We have bigger, western fish of the EU variety, to fry.
For me the EU is not an enemy but just another problem like Russia. Only first it wants us to secure our backsides, and then we can play with the EU because we can be sure that the Russkies will not try the old art of getting along with the Krauts.
I am skeptical of anti-Russia narratives after all the 'Muh Russia' MSM gibberish, I also mistrust them in general and I have a strong anti-Western bias, sue me.
Fighting the EU only makes sense if you have an alternative that is culturally equal to it, because you have to have the strength to challenge them. And honestly? Russia is a powdered corpse which can only offer bayonets. Ukraine is a hell hole despite having lands and resources which are worth more than the whole Silesia.
Belarus is forests, swamps and a road leading west-east.
Hungary is the remnants of a powerful country that can give something but needs help itself.
Romania and Moldova are another hole that needs money and corruption to be dealt with urgently.
Czech Republic and Slovakia are 1/3 of our total strength but they are worth attention and probably one of the countries that can keep up with us effectively. (Czech Republic may try to play on two fronts).
Former Yugoslavia, I prefer not to say here because I don't know the region, I guess you come from there so you can tell what they can give us for the anti-EU alliance.
Bulgaria, as above, I have a question are you Bulgarian? Although you might as well be Serbian, they like Russia.
Greece, I don't have to say that they need help with their economy and the only person who can do it is a strong autocrat, who by the way is a sincere patriot even capable of sacrificing his own good name for the country.
See what the problem is? The only two countries that can unite this region, Poland and Russia, are naturally immersed in their rivalry and there is nothing that unites them because everything separates us. Even as you noticed we don't consider Russians to be our cultural equals and it would fall on us, as it has for centuries, to create something culturally encouraging in the face of the liberalism of the sea countries.
No, Byzantium and its culture is only shared by less than half the population.
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